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The Art Of Resilience

Ping Fu endured gang-rape and political prison in China before arriving on our shores and founding her own high-tech firm.

By

Melanie Kirkpatrick

Jan. 8, 2013 3:00 p.m. ET

The history of American business is full of immigrant success stories—of men and women who flee poverty and oppression in their home countries, arrive on our shores with only pennies in their pockets, and go on to build companies that generate wealth, create jobs, and provide innovative products and services.

Count among them Ping Fu, the Chinese-born chief executive of the high-tech company Geomagic, which provides 3D-imaging for such modern-day miracles as customized prosthetic limbs. If your child wears orthodontic braces,...